♪ theme music ♪ ] >> the republicans did a survey and found out that young people think the g.o.p. is racist, old and washed up. you didn't can see that story on the young turks.com later tonight. bye-bye. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> john: good evening i'm john fugelsang, this is "viewpoint." thank you so much for spending some of your monday evening with us. okay senate minority leader mitch mcconnell scored a political victory of sorts in last month's public policy poll. the kentucky republican had been the least popular member of the u.s. senate in a previous tally no easy feat. but thanks in part to the senate vote killing expanded background

checks for gun buyers mcconnell has dropped back to second place to the new least popular senator arizona republican jeff flake. now senator mcconnell is up for re-election next year and the latest poll will show him tied with kentucky secretary of state allison lunder gran grimes who has not even declared that she's running in the race yet. will senator mcconnell lose or gain from a february audio recording made in secret by activist curtis morrison and released to "mother jones" magazine. in the recording unnamed mcconnell staffers are heard going over opposition research on actress ashley judd who had considered running against mcconnell. judd is trashed for her religious beliefs her pro-choice stance on abortion, and her support for president obama and for suffering depression:

>> john: now one question voters may have to decide, did the federal election regulations banning senate staffers like legislative assistants or l.a.s break down mcconnell's campaign? the unnamed campaign presenter suggested as much when the recording began: >> john: nice. even so, kentucky democrats are not thanking curtis morrison or his neighbor shawn reilly for makeing this crete recording. >> these are like petty thieves. they're an embarrassment to the system. they're an embarrassment to politics. they've been able to generate a certain amount of sympathy for senator mcconnell, which is hard to do. >> john: ouch. for more i'm pleased to be joined by curtis morrison, who made the mcconnell tape. thank you for joining us. >> good evening, thank you.

>> cenk: why did you decide to make this recording and let our viewers know how you went about doing it. >> i first decided to make the recording because i had the opportunity. i was walking down the hallway of a public office building where his headquarters was and when i was passing his office, his new headquarters i could hear him how he was going to exploit the tea party get their vote just like rand paul did. when i heard him say that, i thought this is a conversation that the public ought to know about to make better decisions. i had my flip camera, turned it on and also turned on the cell phone to make sure i had back up. >> john: were you offended by what you heard understanding what you heard was being said in private behind closed doors. >> i was very offended. mostly on the two issues that ashley judd's mental health, because i've struggled with depression but that does not make me unique. i think most people have

struggled with depression at one time in their lives but also the religion part. i could not get my head around that. kentucky just passed an act that is the religious freedom act because we're so passionate as a state about everyone having that liberty to practice whatever religion they want, and here they're discussing how to pit one group of people of faith up against another people of faith. >> john: absolutely. what they were doing, and i heard the tape, they were mocking ms. judd's devotion to st. francis and his connection to nature. the attacks on ms. judd sound terribly mean spirited amid laughter and clearly it was not a bunch of classy guys, but isn't that what political campaigns are like on both sides. political pros talk about taking down opponents in private meetings. >> maybe i've been privileged,

but the campaigns that i've been involved in and helped launch which include a congressional senate and mayoral race. that was untouchable. >> john: yet again this was being done in private. they were just having a strategy session. >> at least he's being consistent. he said, less whack-a-moe strategy. if someone pops his head up, let's whack them out. >> john: i will agree with you that they're offensive and unfair. when you begin to record that conversation, were you concerned that you might be breaking the law by recording it? >> i guess asked that question a lot of. no, because it felt like the right thing to do, and conservatives hate that, i know, because they do things to stay out of trouble but i knew the

right thing to do was to capture that moment and give people insight to that. >> john: i respect how you feel. the fbi said they weren't investigating. have they been in touch with you or your lawyers. >> i want to say the friday following the release, it was released on a tuesday. by the end of the week they wanted to meet with me and me and my attorney met with them--it was supposed to be an hour, and it ended up being a couple of hours asked a couple of questions. i gave them the flip camera, i gave them my cell phone. i hope to get that back some day and i gave them my computer. they've had that for a couple of months. so i cooperated, and it has taken them several weeks or something to finally decide they're presenting it to a grand jury. >> john: did your lawyer advice you to talk to the media about your situation? >> no, but my lawyer knows me, and i hired him--i didn't even

have to tell him. it was kind of a neat situation. he said, by the way curtis, before you even try to beg me or something, i know you're going say what you want an get your truth out when you want it, and i don't have any control over that. i'm going to represent you with the legal authorities analysis you want me to do more. i said no, you know me. >> john: mitt romney's 47% comments were recorded by a bar tender and that might have turned the election for president obama last year. this happened only a few months later. were you hoping that your recording of mitch mcconnell might some how have a similar affect? >> absolutely. the reason i held it from february 2nd to when i did release it was i was hoping more strategically towards the election when people were thinking about the election. but when judd backed out maybe that didn't have as much power and then the next development was scott came on msnbc and i

was inspired by him. i reached out to him and i think he's awesome. when he released his video anonymously i was thinking, hey i could do that. well, scott has friends that are a little more loyal to him than i had. >> john: you also understand that he videotaped the candidate for president of the united states talking at a fundraiser, and you videotaped guys working on a campaign. mr. mcconnell himself isn't really saying any of these incriminating things correct? >> well, that's the magical question. did he say one thing. this is the whack-a-mo part of the campaign. if anyone sticks their head out let's whack them out. the person who was doing the speaking his campaign has refused to disclose it. why are they keeping it a secret. karl rove super pac crossroads gps released anti-judd campaign

special two weeks after this meeting. i think it's probably probable that someone in that thanksgiving room was gps. >> john: again, it's just strategy. that's why it's secret. she wasn't declared a candidate. they weren't running against her. you wrote in salon in a piece that i think everyone should read that the shrine line between journalism and espionage. dois a fine line. do you think you've crossed that line? >> we could speak on both sides of that. speaking of crimes, let's speak up thighs rules from the 1970s hey we're going to make campaign laws. mitch mcconnell doesn't like them and he has even sued.

nevertheless he still has to follow them those are the laws we wanted as a country. >> john: right. >> when you can't coordinate with the super pac when you're campaigning for your campaign. >> john: no one's arguing with that. >> they can't be in the same room. why isn't he telling us who was in the room? >> john: well, because it wasn't his campaign. you know, i couldn't answer that question because again she never even declared to be a candidate against him. what kind of consequences have you experienced? were you shocked to hear your congressman john yarmouth slamming you the way he did? >> i was but then you couldn't expect a sitting senator to use hyperbole, he said that his room

was wiretapped, and he fundraised off that. i don't blame yarmuth for reacting to what he was reading in the news, reactions by mcdonnell, but that's not what happened. i can't even make a vcr work right. >> john: right but respect the point that the congressman was making was your actions inned a inadvertently helped senator mcconnell and made him a sympathetic figure. knowing what you know now, would you do this again. >> i would do this again--my attorneys told me not to say that. yarmuth was acting on the spur. that's not what he wanted to talk about that day and i'm not--i have forgiven him. i've been trying to forgive him any way. >> john: right, can you take responsibility that what you've done may help get mitch

mcconnell re-elected? >> you know, i'm awful with exact quotes, but nixon said wait until the end of the day before you judge people. let's wait to find out who was in that room that i recorded. that could change this situation a little bit of who gets indicted. >> john: if you could do this again. the only thing you're exposing is that political operatives in backgrounds might be sleazy guys and it might help senator mcconnell get re-elected, and it might send you to jail, would you still do it? >> you're missing my point a little bit. they could have been breaking laws. if there are people were super pacs in there, they were breaking laws. they can't get together like that. but i would still do it, look at allison lunder gran grimes was

pulling against mcconnell. now she's 45-45. she gained those four points somewhere, and nobody has come forward and said, hey allison got these four points from blank. i think this was a factor. they were from undecided voters who thought really? he says that stuff in private. >> john: that's possible, and you might wind up being a hero for the kentucky party down the line. but in the meantime, curtis morrison, i thank you for your time, and i wish you the best of luck. >> thank you john. >> john: sexual assault in the military. a crime that transcends gender. that's coming up next.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying.

you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? (vo) later tonight current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> john: welcome back to "viewpoint." i'm john fugelsang. president obama said he had no tolerance for it.

defense secretary chuck hagel called it a scourge. military sexual trauma sexual assault and rape of soldiers by soldiers. while military women are assaulted at a higher rate than men, because men predominate in the military the majority of victims are men. when they called the sexual assault of men in the military a super silent epidemic. here are the numbers. in 19,000 assaults in 2011. 9,000 suffered by women and 10,000 by men. and that's the numbers that are reported. justice denied is helping men who suffered sexual assault finally have a voice. >> i can't articulate the way i wish i could what it felt like to be told because you were raped in your sleep. you are not worthy of dying for

the united states of america. to be simply thrown away for something that i did not choose. >> when i was raped my perpetrator held a knife to my throat. >> suddenly his arm went around my neck, hit the pressure point and took me out instantly. when i came to, i was being raped. >> john: i'm pleased to be joined by michael matthews, a victim of assault when he served at a missouri base, who appears in and his wife is codirector of "justice denied." good evening sir, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> john: where did you serve in the military, and for how long? >> i served on active duty for 12 years. i served at white man and maelstrom in europe, texas pretty much all over. i served 12 years on active duty and served out the remaining of

my years in the air force reserve until i had 20. >> john: can you tell us sir where were you assaulted, and what happened? >> i was assaulted at whiteman air force base in 1974. i was 19. it was in the spring of '74. i was out working late in the missiles complex. we came in. i was taking a short cut through a construction zone going back to my dormitory, and someone hit me from behind with something heavy and knocked me unconscious. when i came to i had two individuals holding me down and the third was pulling my pants down and sodomizing me. they beat me up kicked me while i was on the ground and left me there. >> john: did you tell anyone? did you feel you could report this assault to a superior officer? >> no, back then that wasn't something that you were going to run around telling anybody. i didn't know about all the men being raped, mice until myself, until

i did some investigation 30 years later. i never told anybody for 30 years. there was no reason to. nothing would have come of it, and i know what would have happened, i would have gotten an one-way bus ticket home. >> john: yes, that's what happened so many times. >> after i came forward after 30 years of not telling anybody and the pstd and the problems that it was causing in my life. i didn't know i had pstd until i came forward in counseling, and that's how they diagnosed me with it, and i'm on the road to recovery from that. >> john: it's a huge problem and a big drain on our va system, and the chain of command makes it next to impossible to get a conviction of a sexual assault. did you ever hear of a soldier being punished for the sexual

assault of another soldier? >> no, i actually have never heard of any male perpetrator who has raped another male being prosecuted, actually. it's far and few in between. >> john: indeed, and by my definition it's treason. now how long, sir, did you keep what happened to you a secret? >> i kept it for 30 years. we went back to new york six days after 9/11, my wife is a social worker and she was run counseling for the new york city fire department. all the stories around there was making my ptsd public up every day. i tried to hang myself then. i had tried to commit suicide six times. i was in counseling at the v.a. and not telling them the truth. one day the counselor just asked me in the middle of the session. she said do you want to tell me about your rape, and i did.

afterwards i asked her, why did you even ask me that? was there any kind of indication? she said no, i've seen so many we know raped i thought i would take a shot in the dark because your story was not matching up to what your symptoms were. >> john: how did your life change after you were able to open up to her about your attack? >> oh, my life changed for the better. i got medication, i got prolonged exposure counseling and i've gotten along better with people in general. it really made me anti-soldier anti-social for a long time, and-- >> john: i don't think people understand-- >> go ahead. >> john: i think a lot of civilians have a difficult understanding how ptsd for our soldiers reconfigures the brain's chemistry and it's not a moodies order. it really is an on going disease and a syndrome. i'm wondering what it would take

for you to tell your wife that you had undergone this and you were a survivor. >> well, there is always the fear. i knew my wife, and i love her. but there is always the fear that someone is going to think badly of you especially a man. they're not going to look at you the same way. they're not going to think that you're a man any more. i'm not going to be a hero any more. but when i finally did tell my wife, she was the best person i ever could have told. i toll her, and she put her arms around me. we sat there and cried together. she told me that we were going to fix this, you know? she was going to hope me. that's big. because i've lost a lot of relationships over this. some of my family of origin doesn't even talk to me any more. you know, it's funny because it all happened after i told them all about my rape. one of my siblings, one of my siblings is ashamed of me, he told me. >> john: it's shocking and sadly

all too common, and i think it's partially why you're here talking about it you're not a victim you're a survivor. before we go to break, have you wound up meeting other men who have experienced this, have you met a network of soldiers who have survived as you have? >> yes we've been doing this for 13 years. our goal is to help men come forward and not live in the shadows, and not live in this pain of ptsd and shame that you can't tell anybody about. >> john: well, when we return michael matthews will be joined by his wife, jerry lynn weinstein matthews, a license social work and codirector of the film "justice denied." don't go away.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy.

just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> john: which are beak with more on "justice denied." the new documentary on military sexual assault by men on men. i'm thrilled to be joined by michael matthews who suffered a sexual assault as a soldier at a midwestern air force base in 1974. now we're pleased to be joined by michael's wife geri lynn matthews licensed social worker and co-director of the film "justice denied. thank you for being here with us us. >> thank you, nice to be here. >> john: we heard michael's story. i consider the two of you people who make me proud to be an american. i think this influence will

expand as time goes on. when did you start to suspect that your husband was holding on to a trauma that he didn't want or couldn't discuss. >> well, very early on in our marriage i noticed depression and anxiety and anger. i always felt there was some underlying something that he might not be telling me. we would go to counseling but nothing ever surfaced. so quite early on in the marriage i would say. >> john: and how did you come to finally come to find out about his history of sexual assault? >> well, he came home from the v.a. one day in new york during the time that we were there at 9/11 for my job. he said, i want to talk to you after dinner. most men don't come out and say i want to talk to you. i thought, what is up? i was thinking all the different scenarios that it could be. finally when he shared it, i was

somewhat relieved to know that there was something i didn't feel crazy any more. on the flip side i was mortified, shocked horrified. that was not what i expected him to share with me. >> john: michael, when you were finally able to tell geri what you survived, share it with the person in your life who is closest to you, did you feel like recovery had begun? what kind of road was that for you to walk. >> it was like someone took the world off my shoulders. i had been carrying this secret around for 30 years and it was weighing heavily on my mind. it felt like i was on the road of recovery immediately. i thought wow, i can deal with. by the one person i can't live without. i love my wife dearly and we've been married almost 30 years now. this person was there and accepting me. and it made it a lot peter.

>> john: and geri, as i mentioned, you're a clinical social worker, when did you get involved in the making of this documentary "justice denied" and how did you become the films' co-director? >> well, he were up at sundance film festival at the invisible war. my husband became ill at that event. while he was in the hospital right after is surgical procedure while on pain medication he said well, we should do a film about the men. i chuckled and thought maybe it's the morphine but by the time we got home, shortly thereafter, i thought, you know what, that sounds like a really great idea. i called mike miller of productions and he was the perfect person to partner with. he's a veteran himself. i thought this would be an excellent match interviewing the men. there would be a trust level there and he would get the issues around ptsd that would

create an opportunity for the men to feel comfortable and come forward and do that. >> john: how has it been received so far? have the men who took part in the film seen it yet? >> no, other than the trailer they have not seen the film. they will be seeing a preview of the film coming up at the end of the week to support them and prepare them for the actual premier saturday night. but no, they have not seen it yet. >> john: was it a tough process for you as a filmmaker to coax these men these american soldiers into sharing-- >> that was my job. >> john: please tell me how that broke down. >> well, geri lynn found all the men. you know, it's easier to talk to somebody who has the same thing or been through the same experience. i talked to them for quite awhile on the telephone, built the level of trust we weren't going to exploit them. we were doing it for the cause. we're doing it to pass a bill.

congresswoman spears' bill hr 1593, the stop act. that's the only bill out there that we support. it's the only one that is going to fix the problem and it's going to take it out the hands of the commanders and put it in the military tribunal with civilian oversight. that's what we're pushing for. >> john: the numbers are staggering of military sexual assault. as i mentioned, the president the secretary they say they're going to stop it once and for all. the bill sound very good and taking the military chain command of it is the smartest and if i may say patriotic way to see that justice is done. >> you know what, that's a funny question because you know, you ask the question. the president is coming out and saying we're not going to stand for this. congress is saying they're appalled, and the senate, but you know what, this has been going on--they have known about this for 40 years.

they have a report that they get every april by the dod called the "military sexual assault report," and these numbers are reported to them every year. all of a sudden because its getting publicity they're shocked. i'm more shocked that it has taken this long to do it. i read the statistics on the pages about bills and congresswoman spear's bilker the stop act they say it has 100% chance of passing. last year they wouldn't even let it to the floor for a vote last october, but what they did allow to the vote, if you can't do something for the military but you can do a bill to protect prisoners, that's disgraceful. >> john: it talks about how influential your work really is. when you consider most americans don't now the majority of rape

victims in america are male because of the justice system, do you think justice denied can end the scourge of sexual trauma and the larger trauma of this against men in our society. >> we can't get rid of rape in our society but the military should not be the largest population of rape victims in our country. there are not a lot of rapists involved. the normal rapist performance 300 to 600 rapes in their lifetime. >> i would like to add that my hope is that justice denied will continue the conversation, educate the public and bring about some type of policy change. >> john: and geri long the way have you met other military wives who have gone through a similar experience as you? >> ironically very few. it seems as though a lot of marriages seem to have

disintegrated or fallen apart. there are two other women i have been in communication with, and that has been a source of comfort and support for me. >> john: michael mentioned some of the friendships and family that he lost over his bravely coming out over the issue but have you gained a new family in terms of fans and supporters and people who are fellow travelers who have survived as you have? >> well, the community the msg community is a very supportive community. they get it. you don't have to explain it to them. i'll speak for myself, while i'm not a survivor, they have welcomed me with open arms and supported me as a wife of a survivor. there are positive things about the community. if someone is thinking about coming forward that would be a good place to start. >> john: michael matthews and geri lynn matthews, their new documentary called "justice denied." i thank the two of you for coming on "viewpoint" for your

bravery and continuing service. thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> john: well, my friends now it's time to pray for george sternos, and tea partyers don't like him, and they're praying for him. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were

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stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. perfectly bite sized drops of rich and creamy chocolate happiness. when the chocolate is hershey's, life is delicious. >> i think it's brilliant. (vo) first, news and analysis with a washington perspective from an emmy winning insider. >> i know this stuff, and i love it. (vo) followed by humor and politics with a west coast edge.

bill press and stephanie miller. >> what a way to start the day. >> john: well now it's the return of our wtf america series in spite of popular demand we'll look at the great state of minnesota where the tea party is asking its member to pray for the conversion from atheism to christianity of one george soros who has spent his life accumulating a billion dollar fortune and fighting communism. but the tea party believes they can still turn around his life and make something for himself before it's too late. hour tea party friends have long had a problem with george soros. you can hear george soros is the antichrist repeated over and over again punctuated by the

word benghazi. this isthis is what you hear when you hear fox news played forward. but he was born jewish in hungary, and visits are angry that he knows what it's like to live like a system exactly like obama-care. wtf, minnesota. if you want to convert atheists to confidentiality you christianity, you have to find people who live lives much like the tea party like atheists. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> john: welcome back to "viewpoint," my friends. i'm john fugelsang and on social media today i asked all y'all if all y'all thought there was anything in the constitutions that absolute. zach wrote my official officials thought was the first amendment but that is not true. you cannot scream fire in a crowded theater. in reality there are no absolutes however if you cry fire in a theater, people will think you're weird but absolutes are not being tested. you are able to text fire in all caps to everybody else in the theater. if you have comments tweet it to us or post it on our facebook page. it is not uncommon for debate over gun control to go something like this. rational human being: you know we need to do something about these guns that are being used to shoot larger and larger

amounts of people and children. were hundred gun zealot: second amendment, second amendment. the second amendment has arguably fewer restriction tons than many of the first ten and there should be no guarantee that things will stay that way. if we're going to be series about stopping this mass butchery that we endured the last few months, they do not. we're joined by michael tomasky in the piece you claim no right is absolute. can you explain that to us. >> i'll give you how the idea of this column came to me. i had written some columns about guns and rights and i read the

comments who with a say, this is absolute god given and no liberal fascist is going to take this away from me. well look through the bill of rights. as you're tweeting companion zach said, there are no absolute rights. there are limits on on the free speech. there are limits on the fourth, the sixth the seventh amendments that apply to people accused of crimes. and of course those limits, interestingly, as you know, are limits that conservatives want to see placed on those rights. so there are no absolute rights. there are limits on every right in the bill of rights that have come down through court cases over the years. limits have been stricter and stricter regarding the fourth amendment over the recent years. i thought well it's time to share this little history with my read years there has always been selective outrage over the

constitutional amendment and tinkering as selective reading of the second amendment by guys who think well regulateed militia means unregulateed in his basement. why the resistence? >> because they have a strong lobby. people accused of crimes don't have a particularly strong lobby in this country. but people who buy guns do. the national rifle association and the gun lobbyist were moderate and then they turned to the right and further and further to the right in every decade sense. >> john: they were a gun organization not a mouth piece for gun makers to make profits every time there is a massacre. you directly criticize in your piece the folks who simply claim the second amendment as their excuse to own weapons capable of

mass shootings. yet in the comment section people do just that. how would you judge the reaction you saw to this piece? >> well, you know, there thousands of comments to that piece, and i did not read them all. i did reed some of them, and i didn't see anyone arguing with my position who really made a strong legal case that the second amendment was some how unique in the bill of rights, that it was unlike the first amendment, unlike the fourth amendment, unlike the fifth sixth, seventh amendments and therefore should have no limitations on it. it's just a belief that they hold very strongly but there is no grounding in law. even anton scalia said in the heller case, yeah, he's mostly known in his heller decision for saying that gun rights are very broad, and that this business about the well-regulateed militia

really didn't apply any more. but he also said in that opinion and in subsequent interviews that future courts are perfectly free to decide that there are limitations on the kinds of weapons that second amendment freedoms apply to. >> john: that makes your case perfectly. that's what our friends ignore about scalia's statement in heller. they say scalia said you have the individual right to bear arms, and glossed over what you just pointed out. the reality that he said this is subject to interpretation in future generations. so michael let me ask you to put on your supreme court hat for a second. let's say you got to rewrite the second amendment how do you think one would go about wording it? >> well, it's a great question. my concern is the types of questions. i don't want to take all the guns away from all gun owners. i don't want to. i really don't know anyone who does. hunters can own dozens of

hunting rifles as far as i'm concerned. people can even own handguns, i guess. that's all fine. but i think there is a public interest involved when you have these weapons that are obviously made for one purpose for military purpose you know to, mow down as many people as quickly as you possibly could mow them down. and i think you can make them very easy and clear, public interest case, that those kinds of weapons don't belong in the hands of ordinary citizens. also ammunition. this guy, the holmes guy in aurora colorado, who bought hundreds of rounds. >> john: a thousand rounds online. >> without any questions asked you know, there has to be some kind of limit on that. i can't give you the exact wording but that's what i would do. i would fashion it in such a way that, you know, there is no limit on the vast majority of guns except for these guns that can kill, you know, dozens or hundreds of people in a couple of minutes and the the ammunition.

>> john: 90% of americans supported background checks for guns purchased at gun shows and those americans saw just how much the will of the people matter to the senate. is this now an issue totally on the back burner? is there a chance of seeing a revisitation of the debate on background checks? >> yes, i think there is a chance. joe mansion and pat toomey were pushing this background check bill most aggressively, they're still trying to round up 60 votes from their colleagues. they came close and they seem to have found a couple of people they have won over to their side. in terms of the headline, the issue is now on the back pages but maybe there is an event--not that i'm cheering for an event understand--but the next time

there is an event that pushes the issue on the front pages there will be pressure on those handful of wavering senators to change their vote. and mansion and toomey are still working for that day and harry reid is still working for that day. the house of representatives is a different matter. i still think this could pass the senate and we would see what would happened. >> john: i think you're right. michael tomasky for "newsweek" and the daily beast. i caution all of our viewers about reading the comment section on the daily beast at any time. it's not always good for the eyes. thank you so much, michael. >> thanks, john. >> john: thank you. up next is the washington redskins a racist team name for a team? spoiler alert--yes. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were

they thinking? very, very excited about that and very proud of that. >>beltway politics from inside the loop. >>we tackle the big issues here in our nation's capital, around the country and around the globe. >>dc columnist and four time emmy winner bill press opens current's morning news block. >>we'll do our best to carry the flag from 6 to 9 every morning.

>> john: welcome back. time to talk once again about the controversy over the name nfl team "the washington

redskins." now i realize talking about this takes valuable time away from the hard news stories we really care about like the deaths of all the imaginary people in the game of thrones or michael douglas trying really hard to remind us that he's straight. this time a group of do-gooder congressmen have sent a letter to the red kins owner dan snyder urging him to change the name of the team to something that isn't racist epitaph describing decimated minority skin color. we know this racist gave the team a name that is racist. the named redskins is clearly not a problem oh to the majority of pale skins. the only thing that they like more than mocking the people

whose land we stole is to call the people whose land we stole illegals. but you still have a few americans begging people to change the name that is outdated from the 20th century. thethe white people are concerned that it's pay back on the unprovoked attack of the peace loving wigwam hugger general mcmcarthur. dan snyder stood up for the pale people who said we'll never change the name. never. you can use caps. he said that, brilliantly

defending racism with a thank you for holding fast to your principles. that's what you liberals don't get. how can it be racist if white people don't think its racist? in fact, dan snyder is so right about the scourge of political correctness i'm sure he would have no problem whatsoever with a sports team name that openly mock his own jewish heritage. how about the brooklyn christ killers. don't back down on me now. i know lots and lots of conservative christian americans who really believe that the jews killed jesus. you don't want to be one of those whining pc americans. to show white people how unracist we are, let's name teams like the dallas rednecks.

the jacksonville has smoking trailer yokels. the new england white paste honkies. the cleveland peculiarer woods. the denver pointy nose whose spent all that money on a liberal arts degree. the cincinnati pale face who is never get tickets for jaywalking. the indianapolis whiteys and weren't they the majority of serial killers. and best of all the boston tea baggers. and on a serious note my melonin deprived friends. if these bother you then you know how a native american feels watching a redskins game. i would like to thank my guests,

we're still current tv. i'm john fugelsang wishing you a good night and have a good one mom, peace. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> joy: tonight michele bachmann says she won't run for a fifth term. plus michael douglas says he got cancer from giving oral sex. apparently no good deed goes unpunished. and jc penney removes an ad because it resemble a reference to hitler. all of that and more tonight. [♪ theme music ♪]